The Savings Statue Protects Plaintiff Protects Plaintiff’s Assignee

CPLR 205(a) (aka the “Savings Statute”), provides an additional six (6) month period to recommence an action where an action is dismissed for grounds other than voluntary discontinuance, lack of personal jurisdiction, neglect to prosecute, or a final judgment. This grace period has proven helpful in older mortgage foreclosure actions that remain pending long after the Statue of Limitations would have ran.

On February 8, 2017 the Second Department ruled in Wells Fargo Bank v. Eitani (507424/2013) that Savings Statute’s grace period is extended to Plaintiff’s assignees or successors in interest. While the ability of an assignee or successor in interest to use the grace period was never specifically in doubt, this decision further cements our investors’ ability to protect their asset should an inherited action have been improperly commenced.